Russia in the 1990s - Episode 1 (1992-1994)

Lydia and JM discuss Russia in the early 1990s and the years 1992-1994. Lydia discusses her lived experiences and the experiences of those who she knows during this time to give an eyewitness testimony to a turbulent and horrific time in Russian history. We discuss what the end of the Soviet Union and beginning of the Russian Federation felt like to someone who was there, hyperinflation, planting potatoes to survive, politics as farce and politics as murder, how Russian liberals demonstrated their "commitment" to democracy, and how President Yeltsin set an example of propriety in the midst of the loss of public morals. On that last point we are being sarcastic - he helped set the tone for corruption, violence, crime and blending of all three such that nobody knew who was the government, who was the gangster and who was just some guy.